Add Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett's
name to the growing list of top leaders who oppose the James White
Parkway Extension project. (Yeah, I totally ripped off the idea of
this blog entry from the hippie. Click right smack here for it.)
“I spoke with the Governor's Office
and expressed my concerns and they share them, too,” Burchett said.
“There are three main things with it. I'm concerned about the
neighborhoods, of course, and also the fact that (the project) will
cost $100 million. It will also pull traffic off Chapman Highway and
those people, the businesses, are dying on the vine out there. We
don't want to divert anything from the local entrepreneurs.”
Plus, he said, he doesn't want the
state going in and tearing up Bigfoot's home. (No, I totally made
that last part up.)
The mayor did say that he'd like to see
the $100 million used elsewhere in Knox County, like widening
Oakridge Highway.
He added, too, that he didn't think
anything would come of the project. (The state is holding a two-hour
public hearing at 5 p.m. on Dec. 6 at South-Doyle Middle School.)
“I don't expect any dirt to be turned
in my lifetime,” Burchett said.
In the meantime, though, the mayor said
folks shouldn't get too ramped up about this, saying “it's not the
time for pitchforks and torches,” but, rather, to be civil.
Eh, I like the pitchfork idea personally.
4 comments:
I've got a pitchfork, but it's one of those with broad flat tines more suited to turning mulch piles than anything else. I get paid every Friday though, and I'm always up for a party and a riot, (I was there when the Kern's bread truck was hijacked in 78, well, actually I was in the Lap drinking beer and I ate a piece of bread, but anyway) if the mayor needs me to buy a new pitchfork and stand up to Bill Haslam, I'm there for him. Or, whatever.
Actually, I'm under the impression that Haslam does not support the extension
Does that mean the riot with pitchforks and torches is off? We could find another cause, you know.
Then what's the plan to make Chapman Highway safer to traverse, if Burch wants to keep all that traffic on it?
I'd rather drive Alcoa Highway than Chapman any day of the week. At least it has turn lanes.
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